She's about my age & is quite nice. But she's one of those people who hate authority. She said the other day that the child protection service, (NZ calls it Child, Youth & Family - CYF) destroy's families.

I didn't want to take the discussion any further cause you can't change people's opinions who think like that.

Nice to hear that you have a new boarder Claire, but oh dear .... maybe she's speaking from experience?

In general, child protection agencies do a fair old job, considering their workloads. It wouldn't be right to leave a child in an environment where it was liable to neglect or abuse, BUT, over here, there've been some questionable instances, where children SHOULD'VE been removed for their own safety, but weren't, and then the opposite side of the coin, where a child was taken away because it was (wrongly) considered for the best.

When you get to know your lodger better, perhaps you'll find that this was an opening for her to talk about something hun. A friend can become a good ear, and you might be just the person. If you then find that you can't help, or your opinions differ, you can tell her that everyone has ideas on things, but you'd rather not talk about the subject.